Don't Break This Kiss (Top Shelf Romance Book 5)

by Jessica Hawkins

  Not so much the people accompanying him, however. Most of them are big, buff, dressed in black with tactical vests on, and weird goggle-type things sitting on top of their heads. Night vision or heat sensing or something like that. A variety of submachine guns and pistols are in their hands. Just like us, they came more than prepared. But no one’s pointing their weapons at anyone just yet. Everyone’s pretending to play nice.

  I’m sitting on my butt beside the destroyed kitchen cabinets, but almost everyone else is strategically spread out around Helene. She stands in the large opening to the living room at the back of the open combined kitchen/dining area, putting some space between her and our visitors. And the dining area to the right when you first walk in the door is mostly cleared, tables and chairs pushed aside. Only Fox is with me in the actual kitchen area to the left of the doorway. Everybody is ready to jump into action at any time, no doubt. You could honest-to-God choke on the tension in the air. And the damn smoke still drifting around.

  “Scorpion.” Thom’s voice is low and furious, his gaze set on one of the women. I’ve never seen him so pissed off. “Good to see you.”

  How he managed to recognize her among the rest of them, and beneath all the badass black commando gear, I’ll never know. But she pulls back her goggles to meet his eyes.

  “Wolf.” The blonde’s grin is all teeth, the way she looks at him purely predatory. Even with the manic expression, she’s pretty. “Hey. You know it’s not too late. Sure you don’t want to change sides? There’s better money to be made here. Not to mention, your longevity of life would far exceed current expectations.”

  “Hmm. I’m good.” Thom’s gun is in hand, but like the rest of our team, pointing at the floor for now. “Thanks.”

  Scorpion pretends to pout. “Sorry to hear that. Spider and Hawk felt the same way, unfortunately for them. Look how that worked out. So sad.”

  Thom says nothing.

  Scorpion’s gaze wanders over the rest of those assembled, finishing finally with me, off to the side. I’m under strict orders to look harmless and civilian, but I refuse to back down from this woman’s stupid staring competition. Her eyes harden perceptibly. “Ah, the fake fiancée. I was bummed to hear you survived the explosion that took out your home. But how interesting to find you here.”

  I follow Thom’s lead and say nothing. So far. This woman is kind of horrendous and could do with a good dressing down. Not to mention possible death and dismemberment.

  A muscle jumps in Thom’s jaw. He seriously wanted me to be hidden away downstairs. Again. But it’s a bit too late to go into hiding. Besides, they still need all the hands they can get. Even if I’m now among the walking, or sitting, blood-covered wounded, I can still hold my pistol steady enough.

  My injury was the other reason Thom let me stay. No one’s actually sure how badly I’m hurt. Only that any sort of movement of my spine or ribs feels like a fiery hell descending upon my head. Not that I let it show in front of these people. Thom isn’t the only one who can hide his feelings.

  I keep one hand in my lap, the other holding my pistol against the ground. My generous thighs helpfully hide the weapon from view. Though you’d be an idiot to imagine anyone present isn’t armed. I return Scorpion’s hate-filled gaze with a solid blank stare. Who cares if she probably banged my boyfriend in the past? And about now, I’m pretty damn sure she did. But I’m the one wearing the oversized diamond ring, thank you very much. Suck it, bitch.

  Probably, I should care more that she’s currently aiming a gun at me. Show a little fear or something. But honestly, it’s just been one of those overwhelming kinds of days. A woman can’t be expected to do everything. Talk about emotional labor overload.

  “You do realize you were just a sham. A cute way for Wolf to hide away in the suburbs without any risk of having his cover blown.” Honest to God, this woman is a cunt. Her eyes all but twinkle with malice. I’ve never seen malice twinkle before, but here you have it in the flesh. Wonder if she practices in front of a mirror. “That must have hurt, finding out he’d betrayed you and lied to you. Did your little heart break when you found out he didn’t actually give a shit about you? That it wasn’t true love after all?”

  I scrunch up my nose. “Dude. Seriously. None of this is any of your business. You’re coming across as petty as fuck right now. On behalf of the sisterhood, I have to tell you, it’s not a good look.”

  Any hint of twinkle or sparkle instantly disappears. We’re so not going to be friends.

  The smallest hint of a smile tugs at the corners of Thom’s mouth.

  Archie raises a nonchalant hand as if he’s become bored with the exchange. Immediately, Scorpion’s mouth clamps down on whatever nasty reply she was devising. She steps back into formation and places her gun back into its resting position. Just another good little soldier.

  “You wanted to talk face-to-face, Helene. Here I am.”

  “So kind of you,” she says. “Though it’s not as if you’d have gotten inside without an invitation, is it? You blow a few holes in my walls; I blow up a few of your people. We’re rather at a stalemate here, aren’t we?”

  Archie’s gaze turns every bit as enraged as Scorpion’s. But he doesn’t deny her words. Helene’s assessment of the situation must be right. Obviously, her gamble on exactly how many more people he has to throw at us is correct. Good to know.

  “But none of that matters now,” she says, and then clears her throat. “Something’s worrying me, Archie. I hate to admit it in front of everyone, at a time like this, but I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

  “You think?” Archie laughs, looking around at all the destruction that used to be her house. At all her exhausted and injured protectors. He smirks, and the smugness radiating off him is just sickening. “You always did underestimate me.”

  “You?” She smiles. “Oh dear, no, not you. Charlie.”

  He frowns. “What are you talking about?”

  She looks at him hard, as if trying to gauge if his surprise is genuine. “I was wondering how he got you to come here, to your certain death. But you don’t even know. He’s been pulling your strings without you even suspecting.”

  “You’re babbling,” Archie snaps, but his eyes look worried.

  “Don’t feel bad. He fooled me too. Got me to place my entire estate into his hands two days ago, telling me we’d use it to put such a massive bounty on your head that, even if you got to me, you’d never sleep another night of your short life in peace. And I fell for it.”

  “Bounties don’t scare me.” Archie’s nostrils flare. “Besides, I really thought Charles would no longer be an obstacle. Must have a word with my man on that job.”

  Helene shakes her head. “You don’t understand. There will be no more words and no more jobs. Charlie’s already won, the cunning old fox. It never occurred to me that he was the only one who knew. He told me to come here. Off the grid and defensible, he said, and I never suspected.”

  “Suspected what?” Archie looks furious now. The tip of his nose has turned bright red.

  She smiles up at him, but this time her smile is sad. Almost sympathetic. “About the dynamite.”

  “What?”

  Slowly, she turns her right hand over, revealing a little black device nestled within her fist. It’s whatever Thom passed her, and when they see it, Archie’s whole little army stiffens. The two at the back exchange a glance.

  I’m guessing Helene’s holding some type of dead man’s switch, so if she dies or releases her hand, everything goes up in smoke.

  My insides clench in fear, and the only useless, stupid thought I have is that I wish Thom were next to me. So that if it all ends in a blazing inferno, at least I can be in his arms at the end. But he’s way on the other side of the room. He’d never reach me in time.

  Helene continues, talking calmly, as if she weren’t holding everyone’s lives in her fingertips. “The whole property’s been laced with it ever since the 1990 renovation. All the way
from the basement out past the driveway. And Charlie knew about it from the very start. He was the one who put me in touch with the team to rig it up.”

  “You’re bluffing,” Archie says, almost spitting out the words. “You wouldn’t kill all your people.”

  “Oh, please. They were dead the moment they agreed to come here, and you know it.” She lets her left hand fall to the floor beside her, the gun tumbling from her fingers. “Face it, Archie, we’ve been outplayed. Charlie got us to pool all our resources and people together in the one place he knew you could successfully attack, and I could successfully destroy. It’s over for all of us. You thought you were the one taking over, but it was him all the time. He knew I’d be willing to die to preserve the organization if pushed to it. Ah, well. At least I get to be the one who kills you. That’s some small consolation, I suppose.”

  “Boss?” says Scorpion. She’s looking worried now.

  “Quiet,” Archie snaps at her. Half his team is shuffling their feet nervously. “Just let me think for a moment. Let me think!”

  “The only thing that truly makes me sad is the Vermeer. It’s hanging in the master bedroom.” Helene looks up at Archie hopefully, and then looks at me. “We’ve got a civilian here. None of us are getting out alive. But we could send her down the road with it. She could probably get far enough away in time. After all, there’s only thirty-four of his paintings in the world.”

  “Wait, what?” I blurt, shocked by the sudden turn of events. “No! I’m not going anywhere.”

  To be honest, with my injuries, I’d be surprised if I could even make it out of the house, much less all the way up the driveway. But no way am I leaving Thom. Whatever is coming, we’ll face it side by side. Or at least vaguely in the same room.

  “Ah, well.” Helene nods and looks down at her right fist, knuckles white, grip tight around the detonator. “It was just a thought.”

  “Wait, you stupid bitch—” Archie reaches out a hand toward her.

  “Fuck this! I didn’t sign up for a suicide mission.” That voice comes from behind Archie, from one of his team stationed nearest the exploded wall. The guy turns and runs.

  “What are you doing?” Archie turns in alarm. “Stand your ground!”

  Four of Archie’s remaining team members turn their heads, toward the mercenary hightailing it out of here, the poor sap obviously hoping to get clear of the blast zone before Helene blows us all to kingdom come.

  And without a word Thom, Bear, Crow, and Fox all raise their guns in unison. They start firing, in that tiny moment when all of the enemies are distracted. Several of the bad guys hit the ground and don’t move again.

  But not Scorpion. She never turned her head. And as the shooting starts, she pulls Archie down behind the kitchen island and returns fire.

  Everything is happening too quickly. Thom’s gun is shredding the kitchen island. Everyone is firing their weapons, running for cover, and generally all hell has let loose.

  I get even lower, lying on the ground. But not because of a new injury. It’s what Thom told me to do. Only, while he’s busy trying to flush out Scorpion and Archie, I’m perfectly positioned to wriggle my way around the other side of the island to do some good. If trying to kill someone can ever be called good.

  Fox is engaged in hand-to-hand combat a few yards away, a huge guy slamming her head against the stovetop until she slides limp to the ground. Before this dude can shoot me or someone else, however, someone paints a bloody circle in the center of his forehead.

  Thom ducks out from behind the remains of the wall between the kitchen and great room. Every time, he fires off some shots at Scorpion. Safe to say all of her attention is currently taken up by my man. Not far away, Helene has raised her pistol again and is firing back gleefully. But she’s right out in the open, just sitting there, and it’s only a moment before she’s struck, the impact of the bullet spinning her tiny frame as she slumps to the floor.

  Her eyes meet mine as blood flowers from her chest, and the dead man’s switch tumbles from her hand.

  Time freezes.

  A couple of the bad guys throw themselves to the corners of the room, probably hoping to have a chance of surviving the building’s collapse.

  But Helene just winks at me.

  Nothing happens.

  A bluff. The whole thing was a fucking bluff. Charlie, the dynamite, handing over her estate, all of it. All to buy them that one-second advantage.

  Thom, Bear, and Crow don’t stop shooting. Two more of Archie’s men drop. Then a couple of flash bang grenades go off and a stunned silence follows. I’m not even sure which side threw them. Dust fills the air, gray noise piercingly loud in my ears. Now is my chance.

  I crawl forward on my elbows and knees. Whatever injury I sustained to my back is howling in bloody anguish. Although, the one on my arm isn’t much better. Bullets continue to fly, though none in my direction. Everyone’s mostly busy at the other end of the room, where the kitchen opens onto the living area—where Thom, Bear, and Crow are still giving them hell.

  Pain levels going berserk, I get far enough around the island to see the douchebag in the three-piece suit. I pant out every breath, the edges of my vision growing dark. But I can still see clearly enough to get the job done. Hopefully.

  Archie holds a pistol, his hands shaking. You can tell the moment he sees me. Because he lets out a startled shriek and tries to point the weapon at me. Only he’s fumbling so badly he makes me look like an expert.

  I squeeze the trigger, my first bullet slamming into his thigh. The man drops his gun, an expression of shock on his face.

  Higher. I need to aim higher.

  The second bullet hits his chest and he falls backward, leaving the way open for Scorpion to kill me.

  Oh, fuck. She’s realized that someone has snuck around her guard. The direction of her gun moves off Thom and settles straight on yours truly.

  She’s in the process of squeezing the trigger when Thom slides across the top of the island and tackles her. They roll around on the ground as Archie groans in pain—blood pouring out of him. Good.

  Also, I think I’m about to pass out. My head is heavy, the darkness continuing to inch in around my field of vision. No. Hell no. I’m okay. Just need to hold it together a little longer. Thom needs me.

  I wrench myself up to fully standing and try to aim my gun, but they’re a blur of moving parts, fighting it out. Some mix of martial arts, boxing, and sheer necessity fueling their movements. It’d be impressive to watch if lives weren’t at stake.

  Scorpion suddenly has a knife in hand, slamming it into the meat of Thom’s shoulder just as he strikes her windpipe with an open hand. He grunts and flinches, rearing back. And this gives her the chance, the second necessary, to bolt for the door, one hand on her throat.

  Thom rips the knife out and hurls it at her retreating figure. Blood—Thom’s blood—spirals through the air as the blade spins toward its target. There’s a crunch as it glances off the doorframe as Scorpion slips through. Maybe there’s a yelp from Scorpion, but she’s still moving, disappearing fast into the shadows of the surrounding woods. A wise choice, given her boss is bleeding out in front of me and most of her compatriots are dead.

  Her desertion isn’t much of a surprise. She’s already proven how loyal she isn’t by joining with Archie.

  For a moment, Thom and I just look at each other. With real live love. Stupid amounts of the stuff. While it’s kind of annoying, Archie’s moaning is easily enough ignored. Nothing can distract me from feeling all of these good things. To think I used to fall for Thom’s bland and boring bullshit. He’s nothing less than beautiful, and I love him. Not a single thing can take away from this. Not the debris, the few remaining shots being fired as the others ensure our enemies are indeed dead with a bullet to the head, or the general carnage surrounding us.

  None of it matters. Just us.

  Though apparently Thom doesn’t feel the same, because he puts a bullet in Archie’s br
ain. Then another for good measure. He does it without even looking. Just cavalierly dispatching the big bad to the great unknown. Fair enough.

  Since Thom already knows I love him, I say the next thing to come into my head. “You’re bleeding.”

  Thom’s gaze narrows. “What’d you say?”

  Given I’m wheezing more than actually speaking and everyone’s got to be half deaf by now, this does not surprise me. “I um…you’re…oh shit…”

  Everything falls silent. And I fall too, my consciousness just hanging on long enough to register me planting face-first into the ground. So that’s the end of that.

  Chapter 10

  So many beeping noises destroying my peaceful sleep. Sheesh. Also, pretty much everything is white. Sheets, blanket, wall, ceiling.

  Oh, no. My bad. When I turn my head, the monotony is actually broken up by some stupendous floral arrangements and bouquets. Peony roses, hydrangea, orchids, tulips, chrysanthemums, lilies…you name it. How overwhelming and lovely. Someone spent big-time on me. Like seriously. People can just be so amazingly wonderful sometimes. I mean, the world is really a delightfully lovely place when you stop and think about it. Just so extraordinarily great in general.

  “Betty.” Thom hovers over me, face pale. “Babe, I’m here.”

  “I know you are, silly. I can see you.”

  The man of my dream just blinks. “You’re high as a kite right now, aren’t you?”

  So maybe I giggle. Who could blame me?

  His smile is tired. “I’d ask them to dial back the morphine drip, but I’m afraid you’ve got some deep bruising to your spine and a couple of fractured ribs. But you’re going to be fine. We’re damn lucky the bullets that hit you in the back weren’t armor piercing. They did enough damage as it was. They also cleaned up the deep graze from the bullet on your arm. That one’s going to scar. I’m sorry.”

  Then it all hits me. The cottage and the crazy battle and everything we went through. With my fuzzy brain, however, the pictures are distorted. Askew. I can’t seem to see my way clear. “Thom. I think I killed someone. Again. Oh my God. I know we didn’t have much choice, but still…”